In 1960 nine families, by the grace of God, happened to hear about each other and the fact that they had something very precious in common - small children with learning disabilities.  They all agreed to get together and start meeting with one goal in mind - to determine how they could best help their children develop more like normal children.  

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In the 50’s & 60’s, most families simply placed their children into institutions because they weren’t trained how to care for their children who were born with intellectual disabilities.  But these families were more determined than that. They started meeting monthly as a support group and to research ways to develop a curriculum that could possibly help their children improve their developmental skills.  In 1963 they officially became the Barton County Association for Retarded Children.  It is entertaining to read in the monthly meeting minutes about their early meetings and how they would talk about their kids, brainstorm training curriculum ideas and they always ended the meetings with coffee, cookies or pie.  The women would take turns baking for each monthly meeting.

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Eventually they were able to secure a portion of the Jefferson Grade School in Great Bend Kansas which turned into the Jefferson School Special Ed class room. They quickly grew to 68 members and they decided to grow their service model to include school age children, young adults and older adults.  In 1966 they began meeting in their newly built facility which was located on south main just across the Arkansas River bridge.  The new facility was a metal building built on land donated by Charles Hulme.

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In 1969 the Dominican Sisters wanted to help and they proposed to ARC that a stand alone program be developed for adults.  ARC quickly endorsed the Sisters proposal and the program HOPE was born.  HOPE started serving 12 adults on the 3rd floor of the old St. Rose Hospital on Broadway in Great Bend, Kansas.  In 1970, the Kansas Legislature introduced and passed House Bill 1379 authorizing other Kansas counties to establish similar comprehensive programs as Barton County ARC & HOPE had done.  They saw the difference that formal training and support could make in the lives of people with development disabilities.  The legislative bill also gave Counties the authority to levy tax support for services specifically designed to help our intellectually disabled citizens in Kansas. 

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In 1972 HOPE, Inc and ARC Children’s Program consolidated into one single service organization.  In 1976 this organization became Sunflower Diversified Services.  And now each year, this organization serves over 125 adults, 36 to 42 Pre-school age children and 120 to 140 infants from birth to 3 years old.

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